The critical need for cyber talent has prompted the SANS Institute, the world's largest information security training and certification organization, to announce a partnership with NinjaJobs, an exclusive community of information technology veterans devoted to helping companies find vetted, experienced cybersecurity professionals.

While the nation has focused on the dramatic cyber attack against Sony Pictures and the recent hacking of Target and Home Depot, cybersecurity experts say the greater danger is that terrorists will go after the nation's critical infrastructure -- its airports, water treatment plants, power companies, oil refineries and chemical plants.

Industrial corporations are beginning to train "cyber defenders" at a record rate, but the number of trained and certified employees who can defend their companies' equipment and systems against skilled attackers falls far short of the need.

CyberCity, as it's called, serves as a training ground for a new class of specialized "cyber warriors," capable of defending against cyber attack. Every day, soldiers plot to take over the town, by hacking into its schools, its water systems, its power grid, and its Internet, as colleagues and instructors watch on screens in the other room.

America's critical infrastructure- the utilities, refineries, military defense systems, water treatment plants and other facilities on which we depend every day- has become its soft underbelly, the place where we are now most vulnerable to attack.

In October 2010, a Federal Bureau of Investigation system monitoring U.S. Internet traffic picked up an alert. The signal was coming from Nasdaq. It looked like malware had snuck into the company's central servers. There were indications that the intruder was not a kid somewhere, but the intelligence agency of another country.

Weak and stolen passwords, poorly configured systems and error-riddled applications are at the core of nearly every data breach and security incident, according to the 2014 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, the security industry's annual analysis of data breaches, released Tuesday.

I live in Houston, the fourth largest city in the United States. On the southeastern outskirts of metropolitan Houston are the vast industrial complexes of some of the world's largest petrochemical plants. When viewed at night, these brightly lit complexes look like massive cities unto themselves ‚ÄĒ and in a way, that's what they are.

Bethesda, MD - December 5, 2013 - Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC), a leading provider of cyber security certifications, announced today the release of the new Global Industrial Cyber Security Professional (GICSP) certification exam. This vendor-neutral credential is the only one of its kind addressing the specific cyber security issues in automation and industrial control systems.

There's an important new cyber security certification coming to market at the end of November. I recently talked to Mike Assante of SANS Institute and Scott Cassity of Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC) to get the details because I think there will be tremendous interest worldwide in this certification and the associated training.

The SANS Institute and Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC) announced today their participation in the Obama Administration's IT Training and Certification Program, a partnership which will enable thousands of service members to earn industry-recognized information technology certifications before they transition from military service.